The Velvet Forum

Does anyone know why Sister Ray wasn't played during the 1993 tour? I can find no mention of it and was just wondering why.

I remember John Cale talking in an early reunion interview about how they were planning to improvise and do new stuff, in which case they probably would have done SR.

Unfortunately I suspect Lou got his way and it went towards control and being quite rehearsed and it concentrated on the songs/songwriting.

Anyone who goes to Reed concerts will realise thats he's a control freak and an 30 min improv is something that isn't going to happen..

Although there were some fine 'Hey Mr Rain' moments where Cale went mental!

It was played once on the tour as I've seen a boot of one of the shows and it is listed. Same also goes for 'What Goes On'. Rarely played on the tour. Check out Olivier's site to find out exactly where & when it was played.

I wouldn't get too excited about this version of SR as I read its only 3 or 4 minutes long!

jimjim wrote:Same also goes for 'What Goes On'.

Yeah, I got What Goes On on a good quality 93 bootleg (With Us from the Past) and although it's OK, it's not great. Especially John must've been bored out of his skull -- he wasn't allowed to play the organ and had to play the same boring bass notes over and over. There are two guitar solos, I guess the first by Lou and the second by Sterl -- the first is too simple to be Sterl and the second has too much twang and twiddle to be Lou.

jimjim wrote:It was played once on the tour as I've seen a boot of one of the shows and it is listed.

as far as i remember it was mislabeled 'hey, mr Rain'

Jim Jim, I'm guessing that you mean the Harvest 93 bootleg. Here's what Olivier's site has to say:

Fierce Pup VU fanzine says: "single disc. Campbell's soup can cover and very little info regarding location. It's one of the Paris shows. Sounds generally good except for the quick fade-ins on some tracks. The audience comes through much more than on other recordings. Some may enjoy this because it provides a record of the real excitement the VU generated, and it is fun to hear a crowd singing along. This CD is not entirely essential, though, because it is incomplete and most of it is available officially. Before you get all excited, the Sister Ray listed on the liner is really Heard Her Call My Name."

Honest mistake or cynical attempt to get your ?s, you decide.

Rob

Oops....

yeah, i meant 'heard her call my name'.